HOUSTON -- Coca-Cola's Minute Maid division, based here, has announced it is raising orange juice prices an average of 8% to 10%, due to the poor Florida orange crop.
year," said company officials in a statement, adding that the company "has flexibility in supplies and has no shortage of high-quality orange juice, because we use oranges from multiple sources."
Officials specifically cited the short crops in Florida and Brazil in discussing the price increase. According to the company, retail prices in the East will likely increase 20 cents for each 64-ounce pack, while prices elsewhere may be as much as 30 cents higher, although any hikes will be decided "on a regional basis," they said.
"While our prices will rise, our quality and availability" will remain unaffected, the statement read.
The announcement by the nation's second-largest manufacturer of orange juice products comes two weeks after No. 1 Tropicana, a subsidiary of Purchase, N.Y.-based Pepsico, gave word that crop conditions in the Sunshine State would force it to raise wholesale prices by about the same amount.
